Entity Framework Setup - Installation Fun!

Yeah, I know its expected that when a product is in beta and its ancillary features are released in a CTP that there will be some "interesting" issues in getting set up. But its getting a bit out of control (in a good way) lately with all of the installations related to the Entity Framework. I had not noticed much until this weekend as I am preparing my laptop for my sessions at DevConnections in Orlando next week.

Here is the list of installations that I had to go through just to get the Entity Framework up and running:

• Key Entity Framework Bits
• Entity Framework Beta 3 
• VS 2008 KB 945282 Patch
• EDM Designer Tools CTP 2
• Extras
• ASP.NET Extensions Preview
• Entity Framework Extensions
• EntityBag code (aka Perseus)
• Tools
• EF Mapping Helper
• eSqlBlast
• Samples
• VS 2008 and .NET 3.5 Training Kit
• Entity Framework Beta 3 Samples

There are the bits themselves, then there are several extras from the Data Team which are very useful. Then there are the tools such as the Mapping Helper (very cool indeed) and eSqlBlast (very cool helpful writing Entity SQL). Finally, there are a few examples that are nice to walk through. of course, then there are the dozens of example projects I have built that I need to migrate to my laptop.

Over time these don't seem like much but when I had to install all of these today it struck me on how much is going into the Entity Framework and from so many sources!. I love this stuff!